


Riverbank Meetings

by One_Small_Writer



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Awkwardness, Camping, Crush at First Sight, F/M, Friendship, Meet-Cute, Protective Finn (Star Wars), Soft Ben Solo, Writer!Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26102041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Small_Writer/pseuds/One_Small_Writer
Summary: While watching her friends (Two of whom are her God siblings) swim in the river, Rey meets a handsome stranger who approaches her and strikes up a conversation.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	Riverbank Meetings

Rey sat on a towel, notebook in lap, and pen in hand as she watched her friends splash each other, roughhouse, and swim in the river that ran almost perfectly thorough the campsite. Next to her was everyone else’s things, shirts and shoes, towels, cameras, and drink bottles shoved haphazardly into a beach bag. Once she said she wasn’t going in she’d been given the job of ‘guard dog’ as Poe had put it.

She, her family and her friends and all arrived at the campsite earlier that afternoon, and after helping set up all the tents, swags and campers, and going with the adults to get groceries, the kids had been cleared to go do whatever they wanted (On the condition they were all back by 7.30 for dinner), and everyone but Rey was adamant on going in the river.

She was perfectly fine with sitting on the riverbank by herself, she was freezing cold even with all the coats she’d piled on and the river wasn’t about to help that problem, and, quite frankly, she didn’t like the idea of swimming as it got dark. Even if normally she was a risk-taker and a spontaneous person, she was smarter than that. She wasn’t very good at swimming and didn’t trust her abilities enough to swim in the near dark.

She was perfectly content sitting on solid ground with her notebook. Besides, there were going to be plenty of opportunities to go swimming, in the daylight, over the next week.

“Rey! Take a photo!” Rose called from the water as she grabbed Finn and Poe by the arms, dragging them closer to her and wedging herself between them. 

Rey grabbed the camera closest to her, they’d all send each other the photos at the end of the week anyway, and held it up, yelling “Smile!” from behind it as she took the photo. She put it down, giving a thumbs up to the group before looking back down at her notebook, putting the pen to her mouth as she racked her brain for inspiration.

“Hey,” A voice came from behind her. She jumped, whipping herself around, and was met with a boy, a boy she definitely didn’t know, standing a little over a foot behind her.

“Umm… hello?” Rey said back, offering an awkward wave.

“Sorry if I scared you. You seemed lonely and I just… do you mind if I sit?” He asked sheepishly.

Rey shook her head, gesturing to the spot next to her. He gave her a tight-lipped smile and sat beside her, close enough that it sent Rey’s heart racing.

“I’m Ben,” He said, sticking out his hand for her to shake, which she took with a shy smile.

“I’m Rey,”

“I know,” Rey paused, raising her eyebrows at him. He flushed red, gaping and wincing momentarily before rushing out an apology.

“I’m sorry, that was weird. It’s just, your friend sorta just screamed it. She’s really loud,”

Rey laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah, she is. There’s a reason we’ve nicknamed her Foghorn,”

Ben laughed as well. “What are their names?” He asked, pointing towards the group.

“The girl, Foghorn, is Rose, my godsister. The one who looks a little like a drowned rat is Poe and the one next to him is Finn, he’s my godbrother. Poe is his boyfriend, it’s his second trip here with us,” Rey explained, pointing each of them out in turn.

“Right,” Ben nodded, “I don’t have any of those, actual siblings either,”

“So, you’re a loner, I see,” She teased.

“Well, I try. Could say the same about yourself, sitting up here alone while everyone else swims,”

“Not usually. I just can’t swim. I mean, I can swim, but not well enough to trust myself to swim the sorta dark safely, I’m not trying to drown,” Rey winced at her awkwardness, hands coming up to twist stray strands of her hair.

“A smart decision. When did you get here?” He asked. 

“This afternoon, around lunchtime I guess, maybe a little later than that. We come here during this week every year. What about you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before,” 

“Oh, only like 30 minutes ago, and this is our first time here. I tried to help my parents set up our van but I was pissing off my dad so he told me to ‘explore’. Probably best to stay out of their way anyway, if last time we went camping was any clue,” Ben couldn’t help but laugh at the memory, shaking his head and rubbing his neck.

“What does that mean?” Rey asked nervously, eyeing him with caution.

“Oh! Nothing like that, my parents are just people that get frustrated very easily. Their tempers are uncanny, not to mention their stubbornness. They both have incredibly strong personalities that, when it comes to things like this, often clash. It’s best to stay out of their way. Especially my mother's, my God, she can be terrifying”

Rey laughed again. “Right then…” She was taking quite the liking to this stranger, Ben. He was intriguing, interesting, and on top of it all, very cute.

“So then Rey, what are you all about? Got a life story, other than the fact you can’t swim?” Rey shrugged, staring straight forward.

“My life story is deep and twisted, not something to get into right now,” She shut him down quickly, hoping he’d catch the hint and drop the subject. She turned to face him, and to her relief, he was nodding.

“Yeah, I get that, mine too to be honest. Well, if you don’t mind telling me, what does ‘The Misadventures of Rey’ mean?” He picked up the notebook from her lap and observed it, tracing the cursive engravings on the front with care.

“I’m a writer, and I base everything I write over things that happen in my life. Finn got me it for Christmas. He thought it would be cool to have a personalized notebook, I do too, obviously. I like that it implies I do things cool enough to write about,” She mused, taking the book back out of his hands, 

“Like now. In the river are the three people in this world I’m closest to, and I observe them and their actions and I write ‘The three teens danced through the river with the grace of swans, water gliding off their backs’. It’s cheesy, but it works. It makes me a better writer,”

Her eyes flicked to his, the intensity of his gaze almost making her turn away, but she just couldn’t look away.

“How do you do that?” He muttered.

“Do what?” She asked, suddenly shy.

“Take something so simple and turn it beautiful,” Rey smiled, finally breaking eye contact to look down at her lap.

“It’s just one sentence, it’s not that good,”

“Not good? Are you kidding? That was amazing!” His voice was deafening in comparison to a mere few seconds ago, and she involuntarily jumped backward.

“Thank you. Who knows, tomorrow there may be one about a handsome stranger who started a conversation with me,”

Ben’s eyes widened, a small red twinge spreading across his cheeks and up to his ears. “You think I’m handsome?” He smirked.

Rey’s mouth dropped open, realizing her slip up. “I, umm, yeah,” She turned her head away, cheeks burning.

“I’m flattered,” He said, hand over his heart, “I think you’re gorgeous, by the way, and I’m not just saying that because you called me handsome,”

She turned around, smiling shyly. “Thank you,”

Before either could say or do anything else, the other three from the water came up to join them.

“Hello, person I don’t know who's talking to my Godsister. Rey, according to Poe’s watch it’s 7.25. If we want to make it back we’ll have to leave now,” Finn said, drying himself off and eyeing Ben up and down protectively.

Rey sighed sadly, nodding and giving Ben a small smile. “Okay, just give me a sec,”

“Yeah, come on guys, lets leave these two alone,” Poe said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Finn glared between him and Ben.

“Poe!” Rey hissed, whacking his calf with her notebook, “You pain in the arse!”. She looked to Finn for help, but he was still glaring at Ben.

Poe and Rose laughed, and Finn huffed out what almost sounded like a growl. Rey smiled at him, giving him a look that said 'Calm down'. He smiled back, deflating, and with that, the three of them collected their things and started to walk away.

“I’m sorry about him. I would say he’s not usually like that, but that would be a lie,”

Ben shook his head, an amused smile on his face. “It’s all good,” He chuckled.

“Well, I should probably go. I don’t want my head on a metaphorical platter,” Rey grabbed her pen from beside her, grabbing Ben’s hand and writing a small, neat ‘86’ on his palm. “That’s my campsite number, so you know where to find me,” She grabbed his shoulder, using it to haul herself off the ground.

“There better be a story about a handsome stranger for me to read tomorrow,” He said, pointing at her as she picked up her towel.

“You know it,” She leaned down as cautiously pressed a feather-light kiss to his cheek, “Bye Ben,”

She stood straight up and waved, beginning her walk towards the others. “Bye Rey!” He called after her. She paused and waved again, laughing at the face he pulled at her and his frantic wave before running up to the others, a stupid smile on her face the whole time.

**Author's Note:**

> The premise of this came from me finding the very detailed Reylo fic plans I wrote on my iPad notes while camping with my God siblings years ago. I miss camping so much.


End file.
